A Whole New World

Too often American companies let foreign nationals
fend for themselves after they’ve arrived.

When an employee is moved overseas, it's generally taken for granted that a wealth of specialized services, including cross-cultural training and spousal assistance. will he made available to the expatriate as well as his or her family.

Traditionally. the converse has not been true, however leaving foreign nationals to fend for themselves when they are recruited to work in America.

"Citizens going abroad have been pampered in the approach that their employers take in moving them overseas. but in reality. the United States is one of the most difficult. if not rue most difficult, country to move into," says Andy Bardach. vice president of partnership alliance and international services for Associates Relocation Management Co. Inc. in Dallas.

"Companies are starting to realize this with the high failure rate of assignments coming into the United States."

According to a survey by Lincolnshire. 111.-based Hewitt Associates, nearly 70 percent of Fortune 100 companies expect the number of U.S.-bound foreign nationals to rise over the next 10 years.

But without assistance in the basic day-to-day aspects of living and working in the U.S., those companies could be in for major difficulties when it comes to recruiting and retaining skilled overseas workers.

"Companies have been bringing in foreign nationals for a long time, but they've only recently begun providing a full range of services," says Laura Herring. president of The Impact Group. a St. Louis consulting firm.

"The major reason is recruitment. They cannot find enough qualified people in the United States to perform a lot of the different functions, primarily the MIS function. so they're recruiting all over the world for these individuals."

Traditionally, foreign nationals have been brought over from Japan and European countries, where the English language and American culture were somewhat familiar and companies were able to more easily justify their lack of support services.

However with a growing percentage of inpatriates arriving from India, Greece and South America, American employers are facing a whole new set of cultural differences.

"It's one thing if you're moving French citizens into the United States, but when you're starting to move people from all over the world to different locations. you run into a lot of very complex issues," says Bardach.

"Sitting down and mapping out the whole process, so they really understand all the components. is critical."

Unforeseen Conflicts

In Plano, Texas. Fujitsu Network Communications Inc. brings in about 125 full-time employees each year from Romania, India, Russia and the Ukraine. as well as Canada. England, Germany, France and Ireland. The bulk of those currently being recruited are highly qualified software and hardware engineers

The company was prompted to open communication with new foreign nationals after uncovering some tax ramification concerns over the hiring of Canadian workers. The move resulted in a series of dialogues which revealed a wealth of unforeseen difficulties inherent in dealing with such culturally diverse employees.

Ukrainians. for example. found a visit to an American shopping mall a traumatic experience because the sight of a salesperson approaching reminded them of KGB agents in their homeland.

And Asian families sometimes had difficulties finding suitable residences because the mother would add up the address and discover it was an unlucky number in their culture.

"This cross-culture [orientation] was something we knew we needed, but I would have never found out if it hadn't been for me sitting down with someone, saying, 'This is what you survived. How can it help me get this next person over, and what do we need to do to make it easier for him and his family?"' says Fredda Walters, Fujitsu's manager of relocation and temporary services.

"That prompted the need to have not only settling-in services, but also dialogue among the employees because they could help each other in their own experiences.

By talking with experienced inpatriates and enlisting their help with new batches of foreign nationals, Fujitsu was able to develop a support system in which families from similar backgrounds are now brought together often in the same neighborhood, to share experiences and provide assistance with adapting to the American culture.

"Once they get here, they bond and help each other and develop friendships they wouldn't have had otherwise," says Walters.

Aid for Spouses

Although the inpatriate is assured of a job upon arrival in America, the same usually cannot be said of the spouse. Visa restrictions prohibit most spouses from obtaining work in the U.S., even if they were high-level executives in their homeland. That doesn't mean they are restricted to staying at home, however, while the rest of their family experiences life in America.

Companies are increasingly striving to find educational or volunteer opportunities to keep spouses personally and professionally fulfilled during the time in which they cannot work.

"For many, there are opportunities that have never come to them before, such as being able to drive or take lessons at the community center or go to school," says Noel Kreicker, president of International Orientation Resources Inc. in Northbrook, Ill.

"Some companies will give a stipend to the spouse on an annual basis to help them access professional conferences in their area of interest or to take courses to further advance their studies," she says.

At Racine, Wis.-based SC Johnson & Son Inc., spouses are connected through an informal welcome club and given total-immersion language classes along with the employee and his or her children. In addition, the company pays a liberal amount toward a spouse's continued education, regardless of their purpose for taking a particular class.

"The spouse is making some sacrifices to accompany the employee, so we're pretty flexible about how we interpret that policy," says Pat Bohman, manager of foreign service programs.

"Some people pursue an additional degree, but they can take English lessons or they can take pottery. It really doesn't matter"

School Concerns

Any family move inevitably involves some concerns over children and their educational choices. Although many foreign nationals are satisfied to place their children in regular American public schools, others desire a more specialized approach to their children's learning.

In the northeast United States, for example, a large Japanese employer set up a Saturday School for children of its employees, according to Jan Dickinson, president and CEO of Dickinson Consulting Group in Portland, Ore. The kids would attend American schools during the week and then spend their Saturdays in special classes designed to help them stay in line with the education they were receiving in their native Japan.

"Most foreign schools usually start at age 3, 50 by the time their 5-year-olds get here, they're so much farther advanced than our kindergartners," says Dickinson. "It makes a difference in whether a Japanese firm can function efficiently and encourage its employees to relocate to the area."

Although SC Johnson's foreign nationals have the option of placing their children in any school in the area, the company pays for tuition at a local private school where many of the inpatriates' kids are educated.

Meanwhile, Lori Baehr, senior international administrator at Johnson & Johnson Inc. in New Brunswick, N.J., has observed an interesting trend~nearly all of the company's permanently assigned foreign nationals place their children in public schools. The temporary assignees, however, almost exclusively enroll their children in private schools.

That observation seems to confirm Kreicker's theory that many foreign nationals choose public schools for their children in order to give them a fuller richer experience of life in the U.S. Although that may mean kids will be hit harder by the startling contrasts between the two cultures, Kreicker says it is not necessarily a negative experience for the children or their parents.

"If you're feeling culture shock, that means you're touching the culture," she says. "We simply need to help them understand how to process all of these sensory experiences, so it can be a positive adventure, instead of a constant anxiety source.

Peer Training

Even though many American companies are beginning to offer cultural training for their inpatriates, most have neglected to develop any kind of awareness sessions for managers and coworkers to help them understand and accept the cultural differences of a modern-day workplace.

Global workforce experts emphasize the importance of developing a "two-way street" of training in which both Americans and inpatriates are encouraged to share their cultures, rather than simply expecting foreign nationals to bend to the ways of America.

"It's not a host-guest situation—You're a guest in my company and my culture; therefore, I have these expectations of you'~it's being peers," says Kraken "It's joining together to create this third culture where both of you are compromising, both of you are extending yourselves and reaching out to build something that would not be possible otherwise. It's extraordinarily powerful and enriching."

No program will be successful if the participants are unwilling to talk, however

Unfortunately, that's a common problem in communicating with foreign nationals because of cultural differences which prohibit discussing personal problems outside of the family.

"It's really overwhelming for some people from other countries, particularly Asian countries, where they don't want to lose face by saying that they're troubled, and Brits, who are very stoic and don't want to complain," says Ilene Dolins, senior vice president of Windham International in New York City.

According to Walters, this problem can be countered by simply explaining to the employee and the family that their managers are there to help them and that it's perfectly all right to share whatever difficulties they may be having.

Also helpful is bringing in a third-party provide{ adds Herring, because then employees understand that these people were hired expressly for the purpose of assisting them in their transition.

Furthermore, companies need to develop these programs and begin offering services even if they have not yet seen a need for them. Those organizations that wait for problems to arise may react too slowly. reducing their chances for success in an increasingly global marketplace.

"If you're going to be competitive in this job market, you're going to have to take a proactive stance in recruiting foreign nationals and providing them not only relocation services, but also family and spousal and cultural support transition services," says Herring.

"By offering those programs, companies are going to reduce the productivity barriers and get those people to be much more productive quicken In the long run, it's going to add to their bottom line if they can begin seeing support programs as assets as opposed to liabilities."